When Chaminade pulled off a huge upset over Virginia in 1982, not only did it put the NAIA school on the map, but it led to the creation of the Maui Invitational.

Reporting from Honolulu -- They are nine letters and three syllables that represent more than a singular college basketball upset.

Chaminade taught the sports world that anything can happen.

When an unheralded 6-foot guard dunks over a 7-foot-4 center who would be a three-time national player of the year … when a team from a tiny NAIA school wipes out a seven-point, second-half deficit against the top-ranked Division I team in the country … and when the final score reads Chaminade 77, Virginia 72, well, nothing seems farfetched anymore.

"It was more than an upset," said Merv Lopes, the former Silverswords coach whose penchant for pulling out seemingly unwinnable games earned him the nickname "Merv the Magician." "This was something impossible."

That's exactly what happened Dec. 23, 1982, in the Neal Blaisdell Center on Oahu, and 29 years later the repercussions are still lapping up on the shores of two Hawaiian islands.

If Chaminade doesn't beat the towering Ralph Sampson and Virginia, there is no Maui Invitational, the made-for-TV extravaganza that lets the Silverswords take a stab at seven of the top teams in the nation each November. Their next foil is UCLA on Monday at the Lahaina Civic Center.

"This is the only school in America where David has a chance to beat Goliath every year," said ESPN broadcaster Michael Wilbon, who covered Chaminade's stunner over the Cavaliers for the Washington Post.

The Maui Invitational, in turn, has lured more than the likes of Duke, Memphis and Kansas; it also has enticed players who might have otherwise shunned the Silverswords for other small-college programs.

Chaminade's roster has five Californians but no Hawaiians, continuing a recent trend of largely looking beyond a home state with few promising prospects. When the Division II Silverswords defeated Oklahoma, 68-64, last year, Temecula native Shane Hanson led the way with 23 points, Los Angeles native Steven Bennett made the go-ahead layup and former Simi Valley Stoneridge Prep and USC center Mamadou Diarra clinched the victory with two free throws.

The triumph over the Sooners was Chaminade's sixth in the 27-year history of the Maui Invitational, a smattering of upsets symbolizing the parity that has overtaken college basketball. Division II teams are no longer pushovers given recent results such as Grand Valley State over Michigan State, Findlay over Ohio State, LeMoyne over Syracuse, Northern Kentucky over West Virginia and Seattle Pacific over Arizona.

"Every year you hear of some small school playing it close or beating a Division I school," said former Chaminade guard Mark Rodrigues, assessing the legacy of his team's shocker against Virginia. "Maybe over the years, it's transformed to people thinking they can beat anyone."

Of course, in the final week of 1982, Virginia wasn't just anyone.

The Cavaliers were 8-0 and only a few days removed from a ballyhooed victory over Akeem Olajuwon-led Houston in Tokyo when they made a stopover in Honolulu on the way back to the mainland. Virginia players spent part of their time in paradise boogieing at a disco with members of the top-ranked USC women's basketball team, which was in town for a tournament.

Chaminade also had reason to party, having recently beaten Division I rival Hawaii for the first time. Then, two days before taking on Virginia, the Silverswords fell to Wayland Baptist, a fellow NAIA school with a 5-9 record. In the stands scouting the game was Cavaliers coach Terry Holland.

"He probably said, 'These guys can't even jump,' " said Lopes, the former Silverswords coach who is quick with a quip.

Nobody outside the Chaminade locker room gave the Catholic school with an enrollment of about 900 much of a chance against mighty Virginia, particularly since the Cavaliers had shellacked the Silverswords in each of the previous two years.

"We were NAIA," Lopes said. "Our budget was what they used for postage probably."

Wilbon, who was in Honolulu to cover Maryland's football team in the Aloha Bowl, had been instructed to take the night off instead of wasting time on a probable Virginia blowout.

But with Sampson recovering from flu, the only sports reporter in town from a mainland paper figured the nontelevised game was worth checking out. And at halftime, with the score tied, 43-43, Wilbon called his editors and told them to save space in case of an upset.

That seemed unnecessary when Virginia used a 7-0 spurt early in the second half to take control. Except the Silverswords, a pugnacious bunch who rarely made it through practice without a scuffle, didn't back down.

Forward Tony Randolph repeatedly made rainbow jump shots over Sampson, a longtime friend and rival. The big men had attended neighboring high schools in Virginia and Randolph had dated Sampson's sister, Valerie.